Liverpool’s Emre Can in action with NK Maribor’s Dino Hotic. Photo: Reuters

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool’s German international midfielder Emre Can, who has missed the past two months with injury, returned to training ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final against Real Madrid.

Can trained with the Liverpool squad on Monday and his return to fitness is a boost for Klopp whose midfield options have been restricted by injury to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

But Klopp cautioned about Can’s potential involvement in the game in Kiev.

“It depends always on the reaction. But let me put it this way, 10 days ago I didn’t think it is possible he could do what he did today. It looked good. It was really positive but we have to wait,” he told reporters.

“The door is open – he is really desperate to be a part. We shall see,” Klopp added.

James Milner, who missed the final Premier League game of the season against Brighton & Hove Albion with a muscle problem, also took part in the training session.

The post Boost for Liverpool as Can returns to training ahead of final appeared first on The Himalayan Times.

• French Open to stick to rankings for seeds
• Wimbledon to seed Williams on past record

FILE PHOTO: USA’s Serena Williams in action. Photo: Reuters

LONDON: Serena Williams will almost certainly be seeded at this year’s Wimbledon championships despite being snubbed by French Open organisers, the All England Club confirmed on Tuesday.

The American is expected to play at Roland Garros next week, where she has won the title three times, but without being seeded she could conceivably meet reigning champion Jelena Ostapenko in the first round.

The French Tennis Federation (FFT) confirmed on Tuesday that its seedings would be based on the latest WTA rankings.

Williams, who has won 23 grand slam singles titles, is world ranked a lowly 453rd having returned this year from having a baby.

She has not played a tournament since Miami in March and pulled out of the claycourt events in Madrid and Rome.

While the French Open sticks rigidly to rankings, Wimbledon’s seeding committee allows itself some “wiggle room” according to an All England Club official.

Unlike the men’s seedings which use the ATP rankings in conjunction with a formula based on results on grasscourts, the women’s seedings can be tweaked on the agreement of a committee.

“The seeding order follows the WTA ranking list, except where in the opinion of the committee, a change is necessary to produce a balanced draw,” is the All England Club’s official line on it’s website.

Williams has won Wimbledon six times but missed last year’s tournament while she was on maternity leave.

She gave birth to daughter Alexis last September.

Despite her lowly ranking she will be able to play at Roland Garros under the WTA’s special ranking rule, which allows players returning from a long spells out to use their ranking at the start of their absence.

The post Serena could get Wimbledon seeding, despite French snub appeared first on The Himalayan Times.

India’s Yuvraj Singh celebrates after scoring a century. Photo: Reuters

NEW DELHI: Few things are more painful than watching an ageing athlete falter as they try to summon up the old magic and Yuvraj Singh’s fans have endured a shared agony over the course of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL).

When India belatedly embraced Twenty20 cricket 12 years ago, Yuvraj’s rise to greatness in the limited-overs format appeared just a matter of time.

After all, few could hit the cricket ball as cleanly and as far as the southpaw did. And although Kevin Pietersen once ridiculed him as a “pie-chucker”, Yuvraj’s brand of left-arm spin was more than handy.

When not doing either, Yuvraj torched the turf in the point region with an infectious zeal, a rare quality in an Indian squad not then known for their agility.

He was a key cog in India’s World Twenty20 triumph in South Africa in 2007 and was adjudged player-of-the-tournament in the team’s victorious 50-over World Cup triumph four years later.

He was unable to replicate that form in the IPL, though, and his stints with Kings XI Punjab, Pune Warriors, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Daredevils have been underwhelming.

Back at the team where he started his IPL career, Yuvraj has endured a particularly torrid tournament this year – alternating between warming the bench and being shuffled around the batting order at Punjab.

“He is a legend in Indian cricket,” Punjab head coach Brad Hodge said on Saturday.

“But we all know sooner or later good things, good times always have to come to an end. But when that is (for Yuvraj), I am not the person to answer.”

Time seemed to have robbed Yuvraj of his touch and the 36-year-old has scratched around for 65 runs from six innings, while going wicketless with the ball.

The spectacular flourish that became his trademark has been replaced by tentative jabs at the ball, or fatal pre-determined shots.

For someone who wielded a willow that appeared to have sweet-spots wherever the ball made contact, Yuvraj struggled to find the middle of the bat against modest bowlers in less demanding circumstances.

His laboured batting was reminiscent of his struggle in the final of the 2014 World Twenty20 against Sri Lanka which, many believe, cost India the title.

Yuvraj was not even picked for Sunday’s final group match against Chennai Super Kings, which Punjab lost to finish seventh in the eight-team league.

His repeated failures to roll back the years have evoked mixed emotions in cricket-mad India.

On social media, his detractors mock his paunch, while his fans and conspiracy theorists claimed he never had the backing of Punjab skipper Ravichandran Ashwin.

Others still found it just too painful to watch the struggle of a batsman who smashed six sixes in a Stuart Broad over in the 2007 World Twenty20, and pleaded with him to hang up his bat.

The all-rounder, who played the last of his 304 one-day internationals last year, thinks he might just have another year in him.

“I’ve been playing international cricket since 2000. It has been almost 17-18 years on and off. So, I will definitely take a call after 2019,” he said last month.

The post Yuvraj struggles on as the magic wanes appeared first on The Himalayan Times.